Senate Bill No. 155
(By Senators Unger and Stollings)
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[Introduced January 10, 2008; referred to the Committee
on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §8-15B-1, §8-15B-2,
§8-15B-3, §8-15B-4 and §8-15B-5, all relating to establishing
the West Virginia Volunteer Firefighter Length of Service Act.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §8-15B-1, §8-15B-2,
§8-15B-3, §8-15B-4 and §8-15B-5, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 15B. WEST VIRGINIA VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER LENGTH OF
SERVICE ACT.
§8-15B-1. Title and legislative intent.
(a) This article is known as the "West Virginia Volunteer
Firefighter Length of Service Act."
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to provide
compensation to volunteer firefighters for length of service.
§8-15B-2. Compensation for length of service.
This article compensates volunteer firefighters for length of
service. In return for the required length of service commitment
as a volunteer firefighter, every eligible recipient will receive
a retirement pension of four hundred dollars per month for the rest
of their life.
§8-15B-3. Funding for the program.
(a) A new fund is established under this article for the
purpose of collecting and distributing moneys to eligible
recipients.
(b) Every fire department must contribute the sum of two
thousand dollars annually to the fund. This payment may come from
either the fire department or from county funding in the county in
which the department resides.
(c) Every fire department must contribute to the fund for at
least five years or have submitted a total of ten thousand dollars
prior to any payment to the departments eligible recipients.
(d) The fund must be established and receiving annual
contributions for five years prior to any disbursements of monthly
payments to eligible recipients.
§8-15B-4.
Requirements for recipients prior to any monthly
compensation.
(a) The fire department must be a member in good standing of
the West Virginia State Fireman's Association for their members to be eligible recipients for compensation under this article.
(b) Each recipient must be at least sixty years of age.
(c) Each recipient must have at least twenty years of active
service credit as a volunteer firefighter in a fire department
certified to meet the requirements of a fire department by the West
Virginia State Fire Commission.
(d) Service credit must include five years of service
beginning in the year the fund is formally established. Therefore
no more than fifteen years of service credit can be awarded to
individuals prior to this article.
(e) Individual service credit reports must be certified by the
department chief and the department board of directors. Service
credit reports must be submitted annually to the funding
administration.
(f) Each recipient must meet required point criteria to
receive one-year worth of service credit. The minimum point
criteria will be established by the West Virginia State Fireman's
Association in conjunction with the West Virginia State Fire
Commission. Volunteer firefighters will receive points for duties
such as incident response, training at local, county or state
level, participation in department fund-raising events, department,
county or state meetings, and service as a line or administrative
department officer.
(g) Only points incurred acting as a volunteer firefighter will be allowed toward annual service credit. No points will be
given during any duties for which a person was paid a salary,
hourly rate, or flat fee for the service performed. Paid
firefighters are only eligible to receive service credit from a
volunteer department which is a different department from their
paid employment.
(h) After completion of twenty years of certified service
credit as a volunteer firefighter, the individual will become
vested into this benefit. The vested individual can at that point
retire from any additional service, but the individual is not
eligible to receive any benefit payments from this fund until the
individual reaches sixty years of age.
§8-15B-5. Administration.
(a) The volunteer firefighter's length of service plan will
require administration staff to collect and distribute the funds to
eligible participants. It is the responsibility of the
administration to maintain proper records and documentation of each
department and eligible recipient, and that all requirements have
been met prior to any distribution of funds.
(b) The administration will also monitor and take necessary
measures to prevent fraudulent or improper distribution of the
fund. This will include audits of information submitted if
necessary.
(c) The administration will prepare a forecast of eligible recipients by year based on the information submitted annually by
the fire departments. The administration can estimate the needed
cash flow in the fund for future years based on forecast
projections.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish the "West
Virginia Volunteer Firefighter Length of Service Act"; and to
provide that the State of West Virginia would have to provide for
the administration costs during the first five years of the plan,
after this time the plan should be self-sufficient to handle any
associated administration costs.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.